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The article describes the development of the French Intelligibility Sentence Test (FIST). The procedures include preparation of test materials, estimation of the performance-intensity function, equalization of sentence difficulty, formation of sentence lists and development of norms and reliability. Reference data have been obtained for normal-hearing listeners and the performance of Francophone listeners from France and Belgium was compared.

Recent findings support the efficacy of the direct acoustic cochlear implant (DACI) in patients with advanced otosclerosis whose rehabilitation is very challenging. Standard treatment consists of stapes surgery combined with hearing aids or a cochlear implant (CI). CI surgery, however, is often challenging depending on the grade of otosclerosis. This study aims to compare speech perception scores in quiet and noise of 6 DACI and 12 CI patients with advanced otosclerosis at 3 and 12 months after fitting. Preoperative computed tomographic scans of all patients were scored by experts using an existing otosclerosis grading system (stages 1-3). Speech perception in quiet was significantly better for DACI compared to CI users at 3 months after fitting. At 12 months, no difference was found between DACI and CI patients. Speech perception scores in noise were significantly better in the DACI group. In summary, a DACI system seems to provide an effective treatment option as the acoustic component can be preserved in patients with advanced otosclerosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]